Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston

The Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston is a system of reservations, parks, parkways and roads under the control of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) in and around Boston that has been in existence for over a century. The title is used by the DCR to describe the areas collectively: "As a whole, the Metropolitan Park System is currently eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places", as outlined on the department's website. The DCR maintains a separate Urban Parks and Recreation division to oversee the system, one of five such divisions within the department—DCR's Bureau of State Parks and Recreation manages the remainder of Massachusetts state parks. Direct design and maintenance functions for the parkways and roads within the system are provided by the DCR Bureau of Engineering.

The park system consists of coastal reservations and beaches including Revere Beach, river reservations along the three major rivers in the area, such as the Charles River Reservation, and woodland reservations exemplified by Blue Hills Reservation south of the city. In addition, parks focusing on local history are located in Lynn and Roxbury. The DCR also manages a system of parkways which serve to connect the urban public to the open spaces; among these are busy streets such as Jamaicaway in Boston as well as secluded park roadways in uninhabited areas such as the Blue Hills Reservation Parkways.

The improvement of areas of undeveloped land, detrimental development, and polluted land in and around Boston for a system of interconnected parks was first conceived and promoted by landscape architect Charles Eliot and Sylvester Baxter, a Boston newspaper writer and city planning enthusiast. Eliot had apprenticed with Frederick Law Olmsted and later assumed leadership of Olmsted's design firm in 1893. Olmsted had been responsible for the development of Central Park in Manhattan and with Eliot had worked to create Boston's Emerald Necklace, a string of connected parks and waterways. Eliot was instrumental in the founding of The Trustees of Public Reservations (now The Trustees of Reservations) and the public Metropolitan Parks Commission in the 1890s and envisioned an expansion of the parks network to areas surrounding Boston.

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